The 1956 Newport by-election was a parliamentary by-election held on 6 July 1956 for the British House of Commons constituency of Newport in Monmouthshire. The seat had become vacant when the constituency's Labour

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

(MP), Peter Freeman had died on 19 May 1956, aged 67. He had held the seat since the

1945 general election The following elections occurred in the year 1945. Africa * 1945 South-West African legislative election Asia * 1945 Indian general election Australia * 1945 Fremantle by-election Europe * 1945 Albanian parliamentary election * 1945 Bulgarian ...

, having previously been MP for Brecon and Radnorshire from

1929 This year marked the end of a period known in American history as the Roaring Twenties after the Wall Street Crash of 1929 ushered in a worldwide Great Depression. In the Americas, an agreement was brokered to end the Cristero War, a Catholic ...

1931 Events January * January 2 – South Dakota native Ernest Lawrence invents the cyclotron, used to accelerate particles to study nuclear physics. * January 4 – German pilot Elly Beinhorn begins her flight to Africa. * January 22 – Sir I ...

Candidates

The Labour candidate was Sir Frank Soskice, who had been Solicitor General and then Attorney General in the Labour Government 1945-1951. His Sheffield Neepsend constituency had been abolished for the 1955 general election. The Conservative Party selected as its candidate Donald Box, a stockbroker from

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

who had contested the seat at the 1955 general election. The

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

did not field a candidate, and third candidate was

Emrys Roberts Emrys Roberts may refer to: * Emrys Roberts (Liberal politician) (1910–1990), Welsh Liberal politician and businessman * Emrys Roberts (Plaid Cymru politician) (born 1931), Welsh nationalist political activist * Emrys Roberts (poet) (1929–2012), ...

Plaid Cymru Plaid Cymru ( ; ; officially Plaid Cymru – the Party of Wales, often referred to simply as Plaid) is a centre-left to left-wing, Welsh nationalist political party in Wales, committed to Welsh independence from the United Kingdom. Plaid wa ...

Results

Soskice held the seat with a majority higher than that achieved by Freeman the previous year. He held the seat until he retired from the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

at the 1966 general election, having been

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from 1964 to 1965. Box was elected at the 1959 general election in Cardiff North, and held that seat until 1966.

Votes

References

* "The Times House of Commons Supplement" Issued June 1957.
British parliamentary by-elections: 1956
* {{Westminster by-elections in Wales 1950–present Newport by-election Newport by-election Newport by-election, 1956 Newport by-election By-elections to the Parliament of the United Kingdom in Welsh constituencies History of Newport, Wales Politics of Newport, Wales 20th century in Monmouthshire Elections in Monmouthshire

Candidates

Results

Votes

See also

References